Kentucky has made it a habit of falling behind early and rallying late. Another comeback wasn’t an option for the Wildcats after falling behind from the opening tipoff in Nashville on Tuesday night.
The Wildcats had a five-game winning streak snapped in an 80-55 loss at No. 18 Vanderbilt. Kentucky (14-7, 5-3 Southeastern Conference) missed its first nine field goals and failed to find a rhythm in Music City. The final outcome was Kentucky’s lowest-scoring output of the season.
"We just got punched in the face early, and we never responded," Kentucky coach Mark Pope said on his postgame radio show.
In four of their previous five contests, the Wildcats used second-half comebacks to overcome LSU, Mississippi State, Tennessee and Texas, a stretch that included road victories in Baton Rouge and Knoxville. The SEC loss was the first for Kentucky since dropping its first two conference encounters to Alabama and Missouri during the first week of January.
In Kentucky’s previous appearance in Nashville, the Wildcats dropped a 94-59 lloss to No. 6 Gonzaga at Bridgestone Arena.
This time, however, the Wildcats trailed from start to finish against the Commodores and failed to get within single digits after falling behind 26-10 only 12 minutes into the contest.
Kentucky missed its first nine field goals and shot just 28 percent (9-of-32) in the opening half and finished 19-for-59 for 32 percent. Kentucky made just six 3-pointers on 24 attempts.
While making shots was an issue, the Wildcats failed to match Vanderbilt’s intensity on the glass and were outrebounded 43-37. Kentucky managed just 13 offensive rebounds and committed 15 turnovers. The hosts turned those miscues into 28 points.
"They hurt us in transition (and) their pace was so much better than ours," Pope said. "Our offense was so dysfunctional that we were getting really flat on the baseline. We got hurt in transition, early and then throughout the game, we got hurt that way. We were pretty dysfunctional the whole night, all."
Otega Oweh led the Wildcats with 20 points, followed by Denzel Aberdeen with 15. Oweh has scored double figures in all 21 games this season.
Pope was disappointed in his team's overall fight against the Commodores.
"That's been a space where we're we've been fighting a difficult battle all year long to get our guys to kind of embrace this idea of being incredibly physical and forceful to earn possessions for teammates," he said. "We didn't do that at all. They're switching hurt us, their physicality hurt us ..."
Tyler Tanner led the Commodores with 19 points as Vandy increased its winning streak to two games after dropping three straight. The Commodores (18-3, 5-3) were without second leading scorer Duke Miles. Vandy is off to its best start since the 1973-74 season.
Gametracker: Kentucky at Arkansas, 5:30 p.m.CT, Saturday. TV/Radio: ESPN, UK Radio Network on 947 The Mix and WiLLiE 102.
Vanderbilt forward Devin McGlockton (99) rebounds the ball over Kentucky center Malachi Moreno (24) during the first half of an NCAA college basketball game Tuesday, Jan. 27, 2026, in Nashville, Tenn. (AP Photo/George Walker IV)
George Walker IV
